FREEZING!
It's about 10 degrees out right now. Just got back from a 2 hour walk around the city and I cant talk cause my face 100% numb. The Christmas/New Years mood is still going strong here. The streets are packed with people taking pictures and feeding the ducks. I am sorry to say that my plan for cooking a turkey was scrapped at the last minute to be replaced by cooking a New Years...TROUT. So we had trout on new years and it was delicious. Speaking of New Years, it was insane here. It is by far the biggest holiday of the year and St. Petersburgers were out in full force. Most of the main streets were closed and people of every race, creed, and religion were walking around everywhere like crazy people. Everyone congregates near the Winter Palace and there was a big stage set up with Santa Claus DJ'ing and light shows and drunk people. Right before New Years we were all treated to a speech on the big screen from the president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, and then right after the whole place broke into the Russian national anthem. I was the only one laughing. I really felt like trying to get a USA! USA! chant going. Either that or start "The Wave". The party went on til sometime the next day and then when I woke up, it was January 3rd. The next couple days were spent walking around and taking pictures of the city like everyone else, visiting some museums and cathedrals like everyone else, and walking on top of the frozen Neva river (terrifying!). The sun was out for a day and there was a spectacular sunset. Yes, it was real and it was spectacular, just like that Seinfeld episode.
One of my roommates has had 3 of her Siberian friends staying with us (2 guys and a girl). None of them speak English and when I say "Hello" to them they grunt like a wild animal and retreat like cockroaches in the light. Though I did have to help them put one of our doors back on its hinges and watching us trying to communicate on what to do and where to put the door was like watching an episode of Mork and Mindy but with Mindy speaking the same way as Mork.
Yesterday we all went snowboarding out in the Russian wilderness somewhere. We were driving in what seemed like pure snow for miles around and along the way we had to help no fewer than two cars who had driven off the road and were stuck. I was the only one laughing. The lifts they use to get you up the mountain are much different than the ones I'm accustomed to. There's no seats, its just a bar you have to put between your legs than ride your board up the mountain. The first time I used I tried to sit on it and fell straight on my ass and they had to stop the whole lift so I could get up and try again. Then halfway up the mountain I lost balance, fell straight on my ass again with the bar still between my legs and proceeded to be dragged up the mountain for about 7 seconds until they had to stop the entire lift again so I could gain some much needed composure. Needless to say me snowboarding didn't last for a long time. After I caught word that there was an innertubing slope I ran, not walked, to it and spent the rest of the day tubing to my hearts delight. Afterwards we drove to a city called Pushkin where there are some very impressive imperial palaces. We all had been drinking hot red wine with spices (delicious) so one of the persons mothers came and picked us up and along the way she wouldn't stop asking me about what kind of fairy tales I was told as a kid (all through translators). All I could think of was Hansel & Gretel and Rumpelstiltsken. And when I said the word Rumpelstiltsken they all looked at me as if I had something crawling on my face. Answering questions about fairy tales was a welcome change from the constant "Do I agree with Iraq war" and "What do you think of Obama" questions I get almost on a daily basis from every new Russian I meet.
Alright, thats all, hope everyone had a good New Year. Now I'm gonna go back to giving my roommates a proper education on American culture, in other words, making them watch all the Rocky movies against their will. Especially Rocky 4 against the big Soviet. USA! USA!
It's about 10 degrees out right now. Just got back from a 2 hour walk around the city and I cant talk cause my face 100% numb. The Christmas/New Years mood is still going strong here. The streets are packed with people taking pictures and feeding the ducks. I am sorry to say that my plan for cooking a turkey was scrapped at the last minute to be replaced by cooking a New Years...TROUT. So we had trout on new years and it was delicious. Speaking of New Years, it was insane here. It is by far the biggest holiday of the year and St. Petersburgers were out in full force. Most of the main streets were closed and people of every race, creed, and religion were walking around everywhere like crazy people. Everyone congregates near the Winter Palace and there was a big stage set up with Santa Claus DJ'ing and light shows and drunk people. Right before New Years we were all treated to a speech on the big screen from the president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, and then right after the whole place broke into the Russian national anthem. I was the only one laughing. I really felt like trying to get a USA! USA! chant going. Either that or start "The Wave". The party went on til sometime the next day and then when I woke up, it was January 3rd. The next couple days were spent walking around and taking pictures of the city like everyone else, visiting some museums and cathedrals like everyone else, and walking on top of the frozen Neva river (terrifying!). The sun was out for a day and there was a spectacular sunset. Yes, it was real and it was spectacular, just like that Seinfeld episode.
One of my roommates has had 3 of her Siberian friends staying with us (2 guys and a girl). None of them speak English and when I say "Hello" to them they grunt like a wild animal and retreat like cockroaches in the light. Though I did have to help them put one of our doors back on its hinges and watching us trying to communicate on what to do and where to put the door was like watching an episode of Mork and Mindy but with Mindy speaking the same way as Mork.
Yesterday we all went snowboarding out in the Russian wilderness somewhere. We were driving in what seemed like pure snow for miles around and along the way we had to help no fewer than two cars who had driven off the road and were stuck. I was the only one laughing. The lifts they use to get you up the mountain are much different than the ones I'm accustomed to. There's no seats, its just a bar you have to put between your legs than ride your board up the mountain. The first time I used I tried to sit on it and fell straight on my ass and they had to stop the whole lift so I could get up and try again. Then halfway up the mountain I lost balance, fell straight on my ass again with the bar still between my legs and proceeded to be dragged up the mountain for about 7 seconds until they had to stop the entire lift again so I could gain some much needed composure. Needless to say me snowboarding didn't last for a long time. After I caught word that there was an innertubing slope I ran, not walked, to it and spent the rest of the day tubing to my hearts delight. Afterwards we drove to a city called Pushkin where there are some very impressive imperial palaces. We all had been drinking hot red wine with spices (delicious) so one of the persons mothers came and picked us up and along the way she wouldn't stop asking me about what kind of fairy tales I was told as a kid (all through translators). All I could think of was Hansel & Gretel and Rumpelstiltsken. And when I said the word Rumpelstiltsken they all looked at me as if I had something crawling on my face. Answering questions about fairy tales was a welcome change from the constant "Do I agree with Iraq war" and "What do you think of Obama" questions I get almost on a daily basis from every new Russian I meet.
Alright, thats all, hope everyone had a good New Year. Now I'm gonna go back to giving my roommates a proper education on American culture, in other words, making them watch all the Rocky movies against their will. Especially Rocky 4 against the big Soviet. USA! USA!
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